


The Tragic Romance Between Psyche and Eros

by gingerlegend



Series: My UDAD continuations [1]
Category: The Mechanisms (Band), Ulysses Dies at Dawn - The Mechanisms (Album)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Romance, Angst and Tragedy, Heavy Angst, Other, nonbinary Eros
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 08:26:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28632465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingerlegend/pseuds/gingerlegend
Summary: Based on the myth of Cupid and Psyche, but within the setting of Ulysses Dies At Dawn. This is a tragedy that explores publicity in the City and what it means to bring a mind back from the Acheron.The characters that appear are all my own take on the characters, save for one or two who appear in some of the Mechs fiction from the official site.
Relationships: Eros/Psyche (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore)
Series: My UDAD continuations [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2122896
Comments: 10
Kudos: 10





	1. Blind Love

The Olympians were not truly immortal, and their temporary immortality required frequent maintenance. If they held off on it for too long, they would resume aging, and would eventually die.  
Aphrodite was well-known for her beauty and charm. She was among the oldest Olympians, but her body was younger than most of them. The only thing she cared about more than her appearance, however, was her reputation. Whenever rumors cropped up about her, she'd deal with them immediately. Usually she only had to silence those involved with cruel threats, which she would then go through with if necessary. But some rumors were too strong, too grand, too  _ true _ to be quelled so easily, and for those, she had other methods. Publicity was the most important thing in this sort of situation.  
The worst of the rumors was when she and her lover were caught on camera, recorded by her husband, who managed to leak the footage to the public, though only for a day before he took it down himself. The rumors would still circle for years, he knew this.  
She had to deflect the attention off of her affair, but onto what?

Aphrodite adopted a child, barely a year old at the time. She was the only one who knew of the child's origins, and her story was… sketchy, to say the least. She claimed to have come upon the child near the city's water supply, where she found them at the edge, about to fall into the water. She was quick, however, and she saved them just in time. Their parents had not been so lucky. They were already drowned when Aphrodite arrived. Or so she claimed.  
The child's name, she said, was Eros. The child proved a useful tool for deflecting rumors. How could the rumors compare to the beautiful child she was raising? They were her everything, and she pampered them. Until the cameras turned away, she was the perfect mother, adoring and loving and ready to spoil her child rotten. Until the cameras turned away, she was all smiles and mercy and forgiveness. Until the cameras turned away.  
This did not extend beyond what the public was privy to. Eros grew up with a mother who loved them on camera, and ignored them any chance she had. They grew up, unsure of which side of their mother was real, not knowing that all of it was fake.  
Aphrodite managed to prolong their usefulness by getting their immortality started early, extending their time as a child, letting them age occasionally so as not to raise suspicion.  
In Eros's twenty-fifth year, they finally reached adulthood. At last, they were no longer a child, having been one for far too long.

They had no one to talk to, as the Olympians were far too… political for Eros's liking, and the common folk feared them for their connections. And so they found themself using online chatrooms. They kept it secret from the other Olympians, and in the chatrooms, they used the alias Pothos.  
It was on one such chatroom that they met someone special: a young woman named Psyche. They quickly realized they wanted to keep in touch, and began to exchange private messages. They communicated in this manner for a few months before things began to go wrong.

Psyche's family was of a common sort: poor, like most people in the city. Psyche wasn't beautiful, not in the way most think of beauty. Her beauty was in the way she saw the world. She saw beauty in everything, and she talked about it with such genuine emotion that it was moving. She wasn't remarkably clever, not enough to get her into a fancy school like Parthenos, but she had a way with words, when her passion was arisen. Not inspiration, but interest, fascination, amazement.  
In a dreary world such as this one, it's no wonder she rose to a small bit of fame, though it was only among a certain crowd. Still, she began to write as a job. Sometimes she'd describe a place she was asked to visit, or to describe someone's personality. Some people compared her talent at swaying hearts to Aphrodite. A few people were bold enough to claim that Psyche's writing was even more effective.  
This sort of talk did not escape Aphrodite's notice, and she hated it. If the girl wasn't so popular, she could be dealt with easily. But Aphrodite preferred not to tarnish her image with unconcealed violence, so she allowed the girl her fifteen minutes of fame.

Eros knew who they were communicating with, although they weren't aware of Aphrodite's opinion on the girl. Psyche, on the other hand, had no idea who Eros was. She knew that Pothos was a pseudonym, but she didn't know their identity. Her sisters were convinced that her correspondence was with someone wicked, but she'd gotten to know them, and she felt it was anything but false.

Pressured by her sisters, she hired a private investigator to help her piece together everything she knew about Pothos. The man she hired was a fellow by the name of Lucius.  
If she had known about his recent troubles, she would have looked elsewhere for someone to hire. Lucius had gotten extremely drunk a few days earlier, and had made an ass out of himself at such a magnitude that one man began to record a video of his drunken ramblings. If that had been the extent of his raving, it would have been humiliating, yes, but he didn't stop at just embarrassing himself. He began to rant about the Olympians, and that was dangerous.  
He was confronted the next day by Hermes, the Olympian in charge of  _ The Oracle _ . Hermes blackmailed him into telling them everything he had uncovered in his investigations, and to keep doing so indefinitely.  
Lucius was adept at his job. Having looked through everything Psyche had told him about Pothos, he realized that the person Psyche had grown close to was Eros. He told her of course, and she was silent. She didn't know whether Pothos— whether  _ Eros _ had been lying to her about everything. Many of the Olympians were cunning enough to pull off a deception like that. She paid Lucius for his services, and he went directly to  _ The Oracle _ .

When Eros saw the headline " _ Child of Aphrodite Poses As Commoner; Seduces Young Woman _ " they couldn't ignore it. They sent one final message to Psyche: "I trusted you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lucius is named for the protagonist of Metamorphoses, which was also called The Golden Ass.  
> The name Pothos was one of the Erotes, a group of love gods that Eros was often grouped with. Pothos specifically represented yearning, which I felt was quite fitting.


	2. Fond Absence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Psyche meets Aphrodite in person. Aphrodite presents her with a challenge.

Psyche tried to apologize to Eros, even though she wasn't sure if she trusted them. Pothos's account was no longer active, so her apologies couldn't reach them.  
She couldn't get into contact with Lucius either. She didn't think much of it, being more concerned about Eros. If they  _ had _ been genuine, they were probably in a risky position.  
The day that the article was published, Hermes decided he'd reached the end of his usefulness and had his mind sent to the Acheron. No one alive was made aware of this.

Eros confronted Hermes, asking about his source for the recent article. He expected the Olympian to feign ignorance, but Hermes told him what he needed to hear. Psyche hadn't realized that the information would make its way to  _ The Oracle _ .  
The worst of their worries quelled, they approached Aphrodite.  
"What do you care for some random girl you talked to a few times?" Aphrodite asked them.  
"She doesn't deserve— You shouldn't ruin her life anymore than I already did."  
"Is that all this is? Or do you have feelings for the girl?"  
Eros didn't reply. This was a question they didn't want to think about too deeply. They were afraid of the answer.  
"Please don't hurt her," they said.  
Aphrodite smiled. She had something far crueler in mind anyway.

When Psyche was ordered to meet with Aphrodite, she was rightfully terrified, even though she wasn't aware that Aphrodite was jealous of her.  
She made her way up through the city. She'd never been so close to the surface, but she knew she wasn't even halfway, and she'd never get to see it for herself.

Seeing Aphrodite in person was something few could claim to have done, and Psyche was surprised by how beautiful she truly was.  
"Hm… Disappointing, really," Aphrodite said, looking Psyche up and down.  
Psyche realized that her legs were shaking. She was fucking terrified.  
"You've made a bit of a name for yourself,  _ girl _ ," Aphrodite said, scoffing at Psyche's unconcealed fear, "but are you really as clever as people say?"  
"I wouldn't describe myself as… as clever," Psyche's voice trembled as she spoke. "Passionate is, um, that's the word I would use."  
"My child certainly thought you were clever, but they tend to be shortsighted when judging others."  
"Are they… Are they alright? I didn't tell  _ The Oracle _ anything, I—"  
"They'll be fine once they stop sulking and move on from their trivial fixation with you," Aphrodite smiled coldly.  
Psyche was relieved that Eros didn't seem to have been punished for their friendship, but a new worry rose within her. If they moved on, where would that leave Psyche? Eros was the best person she knew, and she loved them.  
"Why did you want me to come here?" she asked, almost hopeful that she'd be allowed to see Eros again, even though she knew there was no way Aphrodite would allow that.  
"I've decided to put you through some… let's call them tests. If you pass all three, perhaps I will allow you to see my child just once."  
"And if I… if I don't pass them?"  
"You go back to your wretched little home, never getting closure with Eros, knowing that they will live longer than you can even imagine, while you grow old and eventually end up in the Acheron. They'll move on. You know they will."  
Psyche didn't even consider refusing. She didn't even think about it for a moment. Not that she really had a choice.  
"I'll do it."  
Aphrodite already had the first test prepared for Psyche, and she was certain that Psyche would fail.


	3. Code Cracker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first of Aphrodite's tests.

When Eros found out about the tests, they immediately looked for any information about the first one. They convinced a servant named Ganymede to tell him anything he might have heard about the tests while working. Ganymede was much older than Eros, although he didn't look it, as Don Zeus liked to keep him young and beautiful, for days when women from the lower parts of the city didn't satisfy him.  
Ganymede had overheard Aphrodite speaking with Athena, asking about what sort of cipher would stump anyone.  
This wasn't much to go off, but Eros didn't have time to dig further into the matter. They hired a skilled cryptographer named Anthony to work together with Psyche and sent him to the room she was being kept in for the test.

"Ah, here's the room!"  
The man's voice startled Psyche, who had been staring at lines of incomprehensible text, jumbled and meaningless in its current form. She only had 21 hours left to decipher it.  
"Who are you?" she demanded. "I was told that no one would interrupt me, that this room isn't frequented by anyone.."  
"Oi, you must Psyche. Nice to finally meet you. Big fan of your work."  
"I'm sorry, but I don't have time to chat."  
"Oh, pardon me, mate. I'm not just here for idle chatter. Call me Ant. I'm a cryptographer, hired by a certain special someone to help you."  
Psyche was silent, trying to think Ant's words through. A certain special someone would have to have been Eros. So was Eros truly worth trusting? They had to be.  
"What, ain't you gonna say something?"  
"I… well, I could certainly use all the help I can get."  
"That's the spirit. Show me the code and I'll get cracking," he said with a grin.  
Psyche groaned.  
"What, it was wordplay. Thought you'd appreciate it, being so good with words yourself."  
"I don't exactly have time for jokes," she said, tapping a timer Aphrodite had left for her. "We have less than 21 hours to get this done."  
"Don't you worry, my friend. Ain't no code out there I can't crack."  
Ant was certainly confident. Over confident, but it was still reassuring to have someone who at least acted like they knew what they were doing.

Ant worked for hours and hours. Aphrodite had left Psyche just barely enough food to keep her wits about her, but since she wasn't the one working on it, she only took a few bites. Ant was the one who would need it more.  
"Take a break, Ant," she said after several hours.  
"But I haven't made any progress," Ant grumbled.  
"None at all? I thought you said there wasn't any cipher you couldn't—"  
"And I still believe it. I _will_ figure this out, I swear it."  
"Take a break and eat something. You can't crack the code if you pass out from hunger."  
"Just a quick bite then."

"Damn this code!" Ant shouted suddenly, jolting Psyche from sleep.  
"Wh-what is it?"  
"Every time I think I'm getting through it, I realize I've missed something, and it falls apart!"  
"And you still claim that you can crack any code?"  
"Of course I do! This one's just much tougher than I thought. Almost incomprehensibly complex."  
"But what if the code is actually just nonsense?"  
"A code that has no solution is not a code. It'd just be…" Ant's voice trailed off.  
"I think that's the point. I think there's nothing to decipher."  
"Then we're fucked."  
"No, I don't think Aphrodite would rig it like that. I think the answer is that this isn't possible to decipher, and that's just what I'll tell her."  
Psyche glanced at the timer. Just under an hour left.  
"You'd best go before Aphrodite returns. Wouldn't want you to face any consequences for this."  
"Good luck, Psyche. I fear you just might need it."

Eros was waiting for Ant in the hallway, ready with the payment they owed him.  
"That lass of yours is smart, alright," Ant whispered to them as he stopped just outside the range of any cameras.  
"She's brilliant," Eros replied, smiling as they thought of her.  
They slipped several hundred credits to him.  
"Can't exactly say I deserve the bonus you're giving me. Wasn't me who realized the trick."  
"Take it anyway."  
Ant shrugged and was on his way.

Eros sighed, but their relief was temporary. They weren't sure how long they had before Psyche's next test. They'd have to ask Ganymede if he'd heard anything, though they weren't counting on it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the mythos, the first of the tests is to separate grains in an unreasonably short time. Eros convinces a colony of ants to help Psyche. Thus, Ant the cryptographer.


	4. Scrap Metal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Psyche's next task is literally impossible. That won't stop her from finding a solution, just as last time.

Aphrodite was furious that Psyche had managed to complete her first task, but she hid it well. Not well enough to hide the flash of anger in her eyes as Psyche told her the solution to the first test, but only Psyche was there to see that.  
"Your next test is ready for you, _girl_ ," she said once she composed herself. "You will go to the scrapyard in the Helios District and obtain a motor from a faulty prototype model of the Hydra Tank from its remains. If you do not return within the next 48 hours, our deal is null and void."

Ganymede was waiting for Eros just outside their chambers. As Eros approached, he explained the situation, having run into Psyche on her way down from the first test.  
"But the Hydra Tank… that's the one that was never actually deactivated before being scrapped!" Eros exclaimed. "If I recall correctly, the early models didn't even turn off properly."  
"The only person said to have bested a Hydra without a tank of their own died a few months ago," Ganymede said. "In that whole Ulysses Incident."  
Eros nodded gravely, but they had an idea. They just had to convey it to Psyche.

Psyche saw something big moving inside the scrapyard. Every time it stopped, there was gunfire. There was no way she'd be able to get the motor from it.  
"Excuse me, miss," a gravelly voice said. "You wouldn't happen to be Psyche, would you?"  
Psyche turned around to see an old man standing before her. "Yes, that's me."  
"Excellent. I've been asked to warn you about the scrapyard, and to offer my assistance."  
"Not to be rude, but… what help can you possibly provide?"  
The man smiled wearily. "I can make a replica of the engine you've been sent to retrieve. Provided you bring me scrap metal as material."  
"Thank you, erm… what's your name?"  
"Talus."  
"Well, thank you, Talus."  
And she got to work.

Psyche returned with only an hour to spare, and she presented Aphrodite with the replica. Aphrodite couldn't tell the difference, and was furious once more.  
She sent Psyche to do the final test right away. Psyche would have to venture to the Acheron and get a specific classified document.  
The person who used to be in charge of the Acheron, Hades, had left a few weeks following the Ulysses Incident, and in their place, a mysterious man calling himself Persephone had taken over. Aphrodite had made a deal with him, and now everything was in place for the final test.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Loosely interpreted from the second task in the original story, in which Psyche is told to get wool from one of Helios's carnivorous sheep.


	5. Love Labours Last

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Persephone.

"Excuse me, sir," Psyche said, "but you wouldn't happen to be Persephone, would you?"  
The man Psyche spoke to was wearing a flashy suit, patterned with an abstract imitation of the flowers that no one had seen in centuries, aside from the most wealthy Olympians.  
The man grinned and nodded, holding out a document in a clawed prosthetic hand. It was rare to see documents printed on paper of any kind, but the document was probably something that had to be kept off of networks accessible by hackers.  
"Oh, erm, thank you."  
The man nodded, wordlessly bidding Psyche farewell.  
Persephone was mute, if the rumors were to be believed. Some claimed he lost his tongue in a fight with Hades as they tried to burn the Acheron, others claim that he traded his voice in one final transaction. Yet others insist that he's always been a man of no words. None are certain, and Persephone hasn't confirmed or denied them.

Eros found out what the task was and they couldn't let Psyche fall victim to it. They ran from the mansion, ignoring as Aphrodite shouted for someone to stop them from leaving.  
They ran down, down toward the Acheron. They just hoped they could find her before it was too late.

Psyche wondered what was in the document. Why did it need to be kept in paper form, and why would Persephone just hand it over so easily?  
Still, it wasn't her place to look at it.  
… But she hadn't been told _not_ to look.  
She ducked into an alley and took a peek. It was dusty inside. The page looked blank, and the dust rose up, and Psyche felt sick.

Eros saw the body out of the corner of their eye, and they stopped, catching their breath before they approached her.  
Psyche's body was lying on the ground, with blood pooling around her head. The folder lay beside her, wide open.  
She wasn't breathing, and her brain had already been collected.

They carried her body to the Acheron and demanded that Persephone return Psyche's mind. They were too angry, too shaken, and too full of adrenaline to care that getting someone back from the Acheron was never really worth the cost. Not just the monetary cost, but the way the mind came back _wrong.  
_How could they think to care? She was the single most important person to them.

Persephone didn't need to be persuaded the way Hades would have been. Eros's raw emotions, bitter and on the verge of breaking, were enough to persuade him to return Psyche to them.  
"Aphrodite be damned, I will protect you," Eros whispered to the brain that belonged to their dear Psyche. "No matter what."  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so i couldn't think of a way to include this, but i imagine Persephone also having a very steampunk top hat with gears and a clock face on it.


	6. Broken Eternity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An epilogue.

A whisper came from the broken body in Eros's bed. "How were you able to afford my return?"  
Eros didn't answer. How could they admit the exchange they'd made?  
"I can't see you, Pothos," Psyche murmured, her eyes unfocused as she stared at Eros.  
"I'm sorry," Eros said, not for the first time, and far from the last.  
"Pothos… I can't think clearly. I had access to all the minds there were, and… then you came, and I was taken from that."  
"I'm sorry."  
"I can't see you, Pothos. I look, but it's not… you're not what I thought. And I can't reconcile it…"  
"I know," they replied. "I'm so sorry."  
"No. Don't be."  
"I can't help it, love."  
Psyche's mind was so condensed now, and so many of her memories were lost, and the ones that weren't… they were painful to pull apart, to look at clearly. Psyche could hardly remember her own name, much less Eros's real name, or any of those who had helped her in her tasks.

" _ People of the City, please welcome back your favorite Olympian's favorite child. Back from their holiday spent recovering from an injury, it's Eros! _ "  
Eros let the people cheer. The people had to think their time out of the spotlight was time spent healing. And now they smiled warmly at the crowd, all of whom were excited to see that they were all better, even though nothing could be further from the truth. They smiled, but their warmth and joy was a lie.  
They now practiced every word they said, every movement they made. They spent hours preparing even the slightest interactions. Just like Aphrodite, they couldn't rely on their natural charisma. Not when there was so much to hide.

"How're you feeling today, love?" they asked Psyche after their grand return to the networks.  
"If they knew what she was really like, do you think anything would be different?"  
Eros shook their head. "Aphrodite manages to convince me sometimes."  
Psyche understood. She never answered Eros's question about how she felt, and they never pressed her when she deflected.  
Being part of a network of minds was a jarring change, but it was one that could be adjusted to. Being torn from that was an impossible adjustment to make. Having a bigger consciousness was a strange thing, but losing that was painful, is painful, will always be painful. It hurt just to exist, and she couldn't think clearly, couldn't process the world properly.  
And the things that managed to stick… those hurt even more. She remembered every detail of Aphrodite's face, but not her own family. The feeling of the poison taking its toll on her, and the moment her brain was torn from her skull before she was completely gone. Numbed to the pain, but not enough that she didn't feel herself die. That she didn't remember how Persephone's clawed hand felt as it tore into her head.  
The body she'd been given was… it didn't feel right. It was hard to move, despite the regular maintenance. It was her mind that was wrong, of course. Those who come back from the Acheron always came back wrong, after all.

Eros had threatened Aphrodite when they returned, with Persephone's bill in hand.  
"If you don't pay for her return, I swear that I will ruin your reputation."  
Aphrodite had laughed. "I'd like to see you try."  
Never before had Eros been angry enough to threaten rebellion, but Aphrodite's reaction got them to that point.  
"You know what? It'll be more than just you, _mother_. I will take all of us Olympians down. If Psyche is dead, so is the city. So is the entire fucking planet," they growled. "I will make sure of it."

So Psyche was given immortality as well. This was the only thing Eros ever argued anymore. They didn't have the energy to get angry, not when most of their time was spent as the star of the City.  
Eros and Psyche barely talked when they were together. They weren't even sure they still felt the same about each other.  
Psyche would never admit that, and Eros didn't have the time or energy to really worry about that. They just needed to keep Psyche alive. If she were to die again, everything the two of them had gone through would have been for nothing.  
And if they didn't love each other anymore… it wasn't as important to them. She knew them better than any other, and that was all they needed from her, really. Broken mind or no, she didn't need them as much as they needed her.

Time passed, but Eros and Psyche stayed the same. Maybe Eros was more tired, and maybe Psyche was accustomed to the pain, but the two of them stagnated. There was nothing left for them except broken eternity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I destroyed y'all in a Mechs-typical way. Let me know what y'all thought of my story.


End file.
